Sex & Love Addiction Recovery


Sex addiction is any sexual behavior that interferes with daily living and causes extreme stress and strain in love relationships, in families, and work environments.

When sexual activities and thoughts become all-consuming or habit forming- this is when it crosses into addiction. Recognizing the obvious signs of sexual addiction can help identify if someone has crossed the line from a healthy enjoyment of sex to an obsession that needs professional help. Sex addicts will continue to engage in sexual behavior despite financial problems, potential or actual arrest, health risks or broken relationships. This condition can cause an individual to feel enslaved by their addiction to sexual thoughts and acts.

Problematic sexual behavior includes:

A. Loss of control
B. Preoccupation with sexually acting out
C. Significant adverse consequences
D. Continuation despite consequences.

Love addiction focuses on a person and an emotional experience such as fantasies, obsessions, idolizing others, and relying heavily on external esteem and worth. Love addicts spend most, if not all their time, attention, and effort on a person to whom they are addicted. A love addict spends an inordinate amount of time obsessing on their love interest and placing this person/obsession above all else. A person can be obsessive with someone they know or don’t know. The core fantasy of a love addict is that someone else can solve all their problems, provide unconditional encouragement and support at all times, and take care of them in every way. When these unrealistic needs aren’t met, the love addict may feel extreme emotions such as resentment, hurt, anger and this may create conflict in their relationships. When a love addict gets into a relationship, their level of self care decreases and their over-dependence increases. Often times for the love addict mistakes intensity in a relationship for intimacy.

People often develop addictions as a way to escape the intolerably painful emotions they experience. An addiction always creates harmful, often ignored consequences. Only when the addiction becomes unmanageable will people do something about it.

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